The truth is that driving on South Africa’s roads can be a dangerous and risky activity if we are not careful or we get unlucky on the road. In fact, South Africa has an alarmingly high fatality rate when it comes to our road accidents. If we are not conscientious road users in our own driving behaviours, the likelihood of exposure to fatal risks on the road will increase.
There was a lot of interesting, important and worrying details shared in the Road Management Safety Corporation’s (RTMC) 2020-2021 State of Road Safety report. It showed a significant rise in road accidents and fatalities since the end of 2019. A 21% rise in the number vehicle accident fatalities means that we need to improve our own behaviour at home and in our businesses.
The RTMC’s determined that up to 84% of road accidents are caused by poor driving behaviours related to speeding, using mobile devices, bad road safety adherence and other risky driving practices. This means that we could save lives, keep ourselves safe and better perform transport and logistics work, simply by improving our own driving habits and adhering to South Africa’s road rules and safety regulations.
Logistics, transportation and delivery work make up a large proportion of the vehicles on South Africa’s roads today. The responsibility for the safety of all drivers across different industries, different companies and different vehicle fleets are up to the owners, managers and drivers within those fleets and their drivers. Vehicle telematics are an important area of innovation that has made improving driver behaviour and fleet management functions more rigorous and reliable.
Tools and technologies, like video telematics in particular, have transformed the way the vehicle fleet companies are able to train, dispatch and monitor driver across their fleets. This is an important component of improving South Africa’s road safety statistics over the coming years. Especially with growing online consumption, door-to-door delivery and global access, we will continue to see rising numbers of delivery vehicles on our roads.
Real-time video monitoring, centralised digital hubs and communication systems, GPS tracking, route optimisation, fuel management and other telematics tools have helped fleet owners and managers improve driver behaviour, monitoring and training. In addition to helping fleet companies identify, prevent and reduce poor driving behaviour, it also helps reward good driving to incentivise positive behaviour changes in the future.
There is no fix-all solution for the road safety concerns plaguing South African drivers and there will always be room to do more. However, by improving driver behaviour across the transportation and delivery sector and in the vehicle fleets that are operating within in that space. All it takes is the intentional investment of resources by fleet owners and managers into improving their driver behaviour through better monitoring and training.
We have the telematic innovations, smart technology growth and IoT capabilities that can make every professional driver safer on the road for them and those around them. There is no excuse for fleet managers to be dispatching dangerous drivers, unsafe vehicles or unmonitored routes. Today’s fleet management solutions are so advanced that everything you need to grow the road safety culture in your fleet organisation can be accessed from a single screen.
Introducing driver behaviour programmes across South Africa’s vehicle fleets and better supporting our nation’s professional drivers will help them to do their jobs better and keep all of us safer on the roads. Beyond all of the safety concerns associated with poor driving behaviour, it can also add unnecessary operating costs for companies trying to be a cost-effective and efficient as possible.
Here are 6 ways that poor driving behaviours and bad road habits can cost your company money:
- Fuel consumption can be increased by up to 15% by bad driving habits, such as harsh accelerating and braking, rough gear changing and swerving.
- Driving and treating fleet vehicles poorly, increases wear and tear and leads to rising maintenance costs.
- Reckless driving will always shorten the life span of a fleet vehicle, which will cost money to replace – sooner than you would like.
- All road accidents and incidents that happen due to reckless driving, can increase the vehicle insurance costs and premiums across the fleet.
- Damaging any goods in transit are the responsibility of the delivery company being used, this is a major concern when accidents occur in your fleet.
- Poor driver behaviour and bad road habits can cause delays in your company’s service delivery and damage the reputation of your fleet.
Make Positive Changes
When fleet owners and managers commit to cultivating good driver behaviours and road safety adherence in their company culture, it makes all South Africans safer on the road. This is not to suggest that every individual and driver is not responsible for being safe behind their own wheel. Every fleet owner and manager can play a huge role in saving lives that are lost to avoidable and unnecessary road accidents.
If you are looking to invest in the latest fleet management solutions and vehicle telematics to help your business improve fleet safety and driver performance, speak to one of our expert consultants at Landmark Tracking.
